The Cost of the War

Lawrence Lindsay, the former White House economist, estimated in 2002 that the Iraq War would cost around 200 billion dollars. Criticized for aiming far too high, Lindsay left the White House three months later; now, he is known in part for grossly underestimating the cost of the war. However, Lindsay was actually not completely wrong: he was estimating what the cost of a 2 ½ year war in Iraq would be. Just after the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War, new estimates say that the cost of the War could end-up in the trillions. What are the repercussions so far of this war (that costs more than any other war in US history, aside from WWII)?
For one, once this war's veterans receive medical care and disability payments, that total will come to around $250 billion. Add another $100 billion for "hardware" expenditures for the military. Americans already have so many domestic costs -- education, social services, medical care -- that one would wonder how we can afford to spend $200 billion a year on this war.
Many people are questioning more than ever if the Iraq war is still worth fighting. The United States rid Iraq of Sadam Hussein, but in doing so succeeded in destabilizing a once stabilized nation. We are now left trying to help Iraq glue "democratically" glue itself back, so it would seem immoral to simply leave them to their political, infrastructural, and commercial ruins. Yet, if Americans think domestically, we have already lost 4, 000 soldiers. We are spending billions of dollars in a country across the sea. So while both Obama and Clinton want to get our troops out of Iraq quickly and end the war, is this the best of two evils, or is McCain's support of the continuation of our initial goal the most moral, and therefore the most correct?


Is it worth it?